Finishing Up Loose Ends

So, quite clearly I've not posted anything in a while.  And while normally you can attribute this to pure laziness, this time I've actually been doing some work at painting.  In spite of my terrible work schedule, I plugged through roughly 100+ figures, 22 animals and 4 vehicles.  These are all inching me toward finally running my long talked about mini campaing.  But there is always still so much more work to do.

*These are just samplings. (as photographs of the same figures wearing the same or slightly different clothes seemed pointless)   
**Apologies for the photos, I am working through using a new camera set up.

POLICE:

These are based on Kenyan police uniforms that I saw during the Westgate mall attack in Nairobi in 2013.  The figures are Rebel Minis 15mm US Policemen that I cut all the heads off and replaced with Peter Pig heads with berets.  I know doing head swaps on 15mm figures seems like a bit much, but I've actually had some pretty good success in the past.  The typical US styled police hat ultimately looked out of place.  The officer on the motorcycle is just a Peter Pig WW2 German motorcycle figure.  I was not able to find a decent looking police motorcycle figure anywhere.

of particular note is the left-center officer wearing his sandals

CIVILIANS:

I both love and loath painting civilians (militia types also sort of fit this) because I can open up the entire paint drawer and draw up colors that I really have no explanation as to why I even own.  The drawback being, no one is wearing the same thing.  This leads to lengthy sessions of constantly switching paints.  To expedite this, many of the civilians are wearing the same colors, but I just try to rotate which article of clothing gets that color.

poor/rural African civilians

These are more of the Peter Pig civilians from the Modern Africa/AK47 range.  I already had a number of these figures.  They look great for rural settings, losing a lot when in more built up areas. 

urban/modern civilians

These figures are from Rebel Minis "Modern Civilians".  I'll take a minute here to address Rebel Minis in my experience so far: Admittedly I have only ordered a few packs/lines of miniatures from them, but every single time I open the box and look at the bare metal I am disappointed.  The figures look rough and kind of unappealing.  BUT  (put some emphasis in that) BUT, once I start getting paint on the figures, they look pretty damn good. I don't know why I mentally sell them short each time, but they really are a great figure company and sell a massive range.  In fact, they've got some sci-fi minis that are just screaming out to me......

Back to the topic:  I have needed these figures in my life for a long time now.  They'll work perfectly for game that take place in cities and more affluent areas.  They also will help fill a woeful gap in my Israeli/Lebanon games, which until this point, all civilians were wearing traditional Muslim garb.  Despite those games taking place in the "uptight eighties", this was simply not the case as many parts of the Middle East (especially in Beirut) were quite cosmopolitan. 

hostages

Again, Rebel Minis.  These painted up wonderfully and will fit nicely in many upcoming Spectre games. 

(yet another) news crew

My news crews always tend to meet untimely and unfortunate deaths.  Often at the hands of the SAME PLAYER WHO WILL NOT BE NAMED.  So what better to thwart such horrendous atrocities than entering in a second crew??  I mean, maybe one of the news crews might be able to film the other one being the victim of a war crime...    

These figures are from Peter Pig.  Although the film-style camera is out of place in modern times, the effect is still there.

ANIMALS:

Growing up reading through wargames magazines imparted the importance of the "art" and ambience of wargaming.  I loved seeing the distant flock of sheep on a hill in an ancients game.  Seeing farms with completely unnecessary livestock and farmes in the background of a Civil War game.  I embrace the aspects that make the games look more "real".   Now I know that those are mostly all staged photos for publication, but seeing those elements can add another layer to even the more mundane of games.  These are often the things I look for when I go to wargame conventions.  Someone who will risk their extra passion to the ham handed, greasy fingered wargamer.

chickens

so many, many chickens were painted

HEY!   There were no vehicles in this post!                                              (I know)